HOW TO STUDY

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

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Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

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Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

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Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

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Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.

When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

Ten Tips You Need to Survive College

(Your first-aid kit--10 tips to keep you afloat.)

• 1. If you haven't already registered, try not to schedule back to back classes. You'll wear yourself out besides missing the best times to study--right before and right after class.

• 2. Begin the first day of class. Know what's expected of you Take notes from the first day even if it's routine stuff you think you already know.

• 3. Establish a routine time to study for each class. For every hour you spend in class, you will probably need to study two hours outside class. Studying for each subject should be at the same time, same place, if possible. Study includes more than just doing your homework. You will need to go over your notes from by class, labeling, editing, and making sure you understand them. Study your syllabus daily to see where you are going and where you have been. Be sure to do reading assignments. (Don't put them off just because there's not a written assignment.) Read ahead whenever possible. Prepare for each class as if there will be a pop quiz.

• 4. Establish a place to study. Your place should have a desk, comfortable chair, good lighting, all the supplies you need, etc., and of course, should be as free of distractions as possible. It should not be a place where you routinely do other things. It should your study place.

• 5. Do as much of your studying in the daytime as you can. What takes you an hour to do during the day may take you an hour and a half at night.

• 6. Schedule breaks. Take a ten minute break after every hour of study. If possible, avoid long blocks of time for studying. Spread out several short study sessions during the day.

• 7. Make use of study resources on campus. Find out about and use labs, tutors, videos, computer programs, and alternate texts. Sign up for an orientation session in the campus library and computer facilities. Get to know your professors and advisors. Ask questions. "I didn't know," or "I didn't understand" is never an excuse.

• 8. Find at least one or two students in each class to study with. Studies show that students who study with someone routinely make better grades. You will probably find yourself more motivated if you know someone else cares about what you are doing in the class. Teaching a concept or new idea to someone else is a sure way for you to understand it. Studying in a group or with a partner can sometimes become too social. It is important to stay focused.

• 9. Study the hardest subject first. Work on your hardest subjects at a time when you are fresh. Putting them off until you're tired compounds the problem.

• 10. Be good to yourself. Studying on four hours of sleep and an empty stomach or junk-food diet is a waste of time. Avoid food and drink containing caffeine just before or just after studying.

Time ManagementMost students find that their greatest challenge in adjusting to college life and to succeeding in the classroom is in managing their time effectively. This is especially true for community college students who often work long hours. Adult students deal with the additional issues of child care and family and home responsibilities.When evaluating your schedule, or how you spend your time, you also need to consider your goals and priorities. What is most important in your life, right now-- your family, friends, school, hobbies, or other activities? As you look at how you spend your time, ask yourself if this matches your priorities.Even though attending class and completing assignments is a top priority for most students, many find that they are not allowing enough time for their studies. On the average, students should spend about 2 hours of study for each hour of class time. For example, if you are carrying 12 credits in a semester, you should allow 24 hours per week for study (this includes time for reading, writing papers, preparing projects, and for test preparation).If you are finding it difficult to locate the time you need to study, or that there are conflicts among the various demands on your time, you may need to give greater consideration to your goals. By getting clear on your goals, it will be easier to decide how to spend your time. You'll find that you can more easily put off other things and set aside the time you need for studies, if you know how it will help you to achieve your educational or career goals. Ask yourself: Why are you in college?  What are your educational goals?  What are your career goals? If you aren't clear on your goals, you may want to visit the Career Center. In the Career Center, you can take various assessment tests and interact with computer programs that will help you to determine your career aptitudes and interests. There are also a number of resources you can use to read about different careers. You can choose to attend a class on Career Decision Making or one of several workshops on Career Decision Making. You may also make an appointment and meet with the Career Counselor to evaluate your needs and to determine what courses you should take to reach your goals.You may also choose to meet with one of the counselors in the Student Affairs Office who can work with you and help you to manage other issues that may be causing problems for you. Using Time WiselyYou might have all the time in the world, but if you don't use it wisely, it won't help you to meet your goals. Procrastination is a problem for many students. The following are tips to help you deal with this issue: Clear your schedule. Don't overextend yourself. Recognize that your obligations and resulting stress are as important as other people's needs. Set limits around being interrupted or rescheduling your work time to accommodate others. Omit or reschedule some of your other obligations. You want to give full concentration to your studies without feeling guilty about what you're NOT doing. Get motivated. Create a work area that is free from distractions and commit to staying there for at least one to two hours. If you get side-tracked, remind yourself how this activity will help you to meet your goals. Prioritize. What has to be done first? When is it due? What is worth more in terms of your grade? What is worth more in terms of your personal, educational, or career goals? Make sure you understand the task. Ask questions. Get help if you need it. Break down the task into chunks. Estimate how much time you'll need to complete the task. Don't try to do it all at one time. Break it down so that it's "do-able" and not so overwhelming. Stay up-to-date on assignments to help avoid overload. It doesn't have to be perfect. Some people are so afraid that they won't perform perfectly, they won't do anything at all. Make sure you understand the expectations of your instructor. Then evaluate how important the task is and what level of performance is acceptable to you. Then just do it! When you really hate it, try to make it as enjoyable as possible. Work on this task first, while you have more energy. Reward yourself when you complete certain aspects of the task. Study with a friend. Study EnvironmentOnce you have found the time to study, commit to a time and place that meets your needs. In order to do this, ask yourself whether the environment in which you are studying matches your learning style and preferences. Based on your preferences, you should schedule your most challenging classes and intense study sessions in the environments that best match your needs. The following are some aspects of study environment you may need to consider.Time of day: Whenever possible, you should schedule your most challenging courses and most intense study sessions during the time of day when you are most alert. Ask yourself if you are more alert/productive during the morning, mid-day, or evening and schedule accordingly.Grouping: Do you prefer to learn or study alone, in small groups, or in large classes? If your prefer small groups, do not sign up for large classes. Try to get into classes where the instructor uses group activity as a teaching strategy. Form study groups to prepare for tests and exams.Posture/Mobility: Some people prefer to sit at a table or desk (formal posture) in order to concentrate and study effectively. Others are able to learn more easily while sitting comfortably on a sofa or lying on the floor (informal). Still others need to move about in order to learn, and reading while walking on a treadmill might be appropriate. Further, some people have the ability to sit and study for long periods of time (high persistence), while others need to take frequent breaks (low persistence). Recognizing your posture and mobility needs will help you to plan where and when you should study.Sound: Contrary to popular belief, not everyone needs to study in a perfectly quiet environment. However, if you do choose to study to music, choose Baroque classical music. The tempo and instrumentation of this music seems to be most compatible with study and learning.Lighting: Studies have shown that some people become depressed because of light deprivation during the winter months. If you are one of those people, you should try to study and spend as much time as possible in highly lit places. Other studies have shown that reading ability can be affected by the light contrast between print and paper color. There is a high contrast between black letters printed on white paper. Some people find it easier to read black print on blue or gray paper which has less contrast and is easier on their eyes. Being aware that light does make a difference, you should study in the environment that best matches your learning preferences.Temperature: While you can't always control the temperature of a room, you should be aware of your preference for either a cool or warm environment. Dress in layers so that you can adjust to differences in classroom temperatures. Choose to study in the environments in which you feel most comfortable.

Finding the Best Seat in ClassThe location that you choose to sit in class can have an impact on the quality of your notes and what you will actually get out of a lecture. The following tips will help you select the best place to sit. Avoid sitting in the back of the class: Although there are exceptions, students who choose to sit at the back of the class are generally those who don't plan to pay close attention to the lecture. This is where groups of friends often sit so they can chat or pass notes during class, which can be very distracting. It may also be more difficult to hear or see the professor if the classroom is very large. For these reasons, it's preferable to choose a seat closer to the front. Avoid seats next to windows and doorways: If you don't find a lecture particularly interesting, sitting next to a window or doorway is likely to be very distracting. You may end up daydreaming or paying more attention to what is going on outside the classroom than what the professor is saying. Choose a seat where you won't have any visual distractions so you can pay attention to the lecture. Sit away from friends: Class time is not the time to socialize. Be honest with yourself about whether you will be able to resist chatting if you sit close to your friends. If you can't resist chatting, take a seat away from your pals. Ensure that you can see the professor: Sit in a seat that will offer you a clear view of the professor. This will help you concentrate on what he or she is saying so you can stay focused and take better notes. Ensure that you can hear the professor: It's simple: to take high quality notes, you have to be able to hear what the professor is saying. Choosing a seat closer to the front is an excellent strategy to ensure that you will be able to clearly see and hear the instructor. Practical Exam Tips 1) Pens and Pencils Some exams require the use of PENS, while others have to be completed in PENCIL. Make sure you know what you should be using in every paper before you go in. 2) Websites All the major examination boards have websites these days, usually with sample papers and examiners' reports that you can download. These sites are well worth a visit as they may offer a lot of sound advice. The examiners' report, for instance, can give you an idea of exactly what it is that they are looking for. 3) Take Spares Take spare pens and pencils just in case the one you are using stops working. 4) On time not In time Allow for problems, hold-ups and traffic jams on the way and make sure you arrive with time to spare so that you can go in calmy rather than in a frantic rush. 5) It may sound stupid, but ... Don't forget to read the instructions and make sure you know what you are being asked to do. You should go into the exam well aware of what is expected of you, but you should always check. Don't, however, waste a lot of time on this. 6) Honesty- 1 A language exam is not a test of honesty and you will not be penalised if you tell the examiners that you are CANCER rather than SAGITTARIUS in a written question simply because you are sure of how to spell it. Language Tests are quite simply that; they are designed to test your language and not your honesty- don't worry about lying or being economical with the truth in order to show off your accurate language use. 7) Zzzzz Try to get a good night's sleep the night before any exam. 8) Hangovers Try to avoid alcohol the night before an exam, especially in quantity, as a bad hangover is among the very worst things to be suffering from in an exam room. Writing Tips 9) Writing- 1 Don't carried away and overload your writing with too many obvious connectives and contrastives; if every sentence has two or three such words or expressions, then the writing can seem strained and artificial. Remember- you can try too hard as well as not hard enough. 10) Writing- 2 Write on alternate lines (leaving every second line blank) so that you have space to make changes when checking through your work. 11) Writing- 3 Always credit your sources in academic writing, even when you are referring to ideas rather than actually quoting. Multiple Choice Tips 12) Psychological Warfare Examiners can choose the same letter successively for the correct answer. After three consecutive answers with the same letter, many students may well start to feel confused and worried. Eventually, many candidates will start changing their answers simple because they don't believe that examiners would have half a dozen of more questions with the same letter one after the other. They can and sometimes do; this is a real test of your comprehension and reduces the possibility of scoring by guessing. 13) Right word, wrong answer With multiple choice comprehension questions based on a text, a simple trick is to take obvious and prominent words from the text and put them in an incorrect option. Seeing a word or phrase from the text is not enough; these questions are designed to test comprehension not recognition of a word from the passage. Speaking Tips 14) Speaking- 1 Don't bother learning speeches and trying to say them verbatim (word-for-word) in interviews; examiners will usually spot this without too much difficulty and mark you down for it. It is very hard to do this and sound natural. 15) Speaking- 2 Do think over your answers to common questions about yourself. This an opportunity for examiners to get a general picture of your language level, especially your ability to talk about past, present and future experiences, so run these thing over in your mind and try to include corresponding verb forms accordingly. 16) Speaking- 3 If you are asked to talk about or describe a photograph, don't get too hung up on describing every visible detail. Instead, be prepared to speak in general terms about it and how the theme it illustrates affects you. Listening Tips 17) Listening- 1 You are often given false information first that sounds as if it could be the answer to the question. An instance of this is where the information given matches one of the answers, but does not fit the criterion given in the question- the person could be talking about last week, say, when the question asks about next week. The correct information usually, but not always, comes afterwards. 18) Listening- 2 Nearly right is not the same thing as right; examiners often give information that sounds more or less correct, but is in some way unsatifactory. Adverbs and modals are often used to send you the wrong way; the listening text might use 'She may well be late' and the question 'She will be late'- this is not an exact match and consequently could easily be the wrong answer. It has to be 100% accurate to be right. 19) Listening- 3 In longer listening passages, they often try to lull you into losing concentration by having quite long sections where no information relevant to the exercise is given, then out of the blue they hit you with a couple of answers in quick succession. 20) Listening- 4 Although most longer listening passages begin with an introduction that lets you get into the flow before they start testing you, you cannot depend on this; the first word could in theory be the answer to the first question. 21) Listening- 5 Examiners will often place a word directly from the passage in a wrong answer and use a synonym *[syn.] in the correct answer; check the meaning and do not rely on word recognition to get the right answer. Examiners & Exam Myths 22) Examiners- 1 Examiners are, by and large, sadistic so-and-sos. Their sole aim in life is to trap you and catch you out. 23) Examiners- 2 In multiple choice exercises, examiners have been known to use the same letter for the correct answer several times in succession (a, a, a, a, a, etc). This is unsettling and can make students worry that their answers must be wrong; it does not. I once gave a Cambridge Proficiency group an entire Reading Comprehension exercise (25 questions) with the same answer for all. The students started changing their answers and choosing wrong ones because they couldn't believe that this was possible. While I have never seen it, there is nothing to stop them doing it. They are there to test your understanding and will play psychological games to make you doubt yourself, and this is one little trick they use. It also has the advantage of reducing the possibly of inaccurate scores achieved by guessing, as few would guess in a regular pattern, but would try to vary their answers across the range of possibilities. From their perspective, grouping a few consecutive answers with the same letter makes sense. 24) Examiners- 3 Many students and teachers try to analyse exams and work out patterns. In one Cambridge First Certificate exercise, there were usually between four and six correct sentences. Then one year there were only two. Patterns may help, but beware of relying on them; examiners will change them without warning. 25) Exam Myth 1 Apparently, a philosophy student got a first class grade for a paper which had "Is this a question?" as an essay title. Instead of going into the nature of questions, etc, he or she simply wrote "Yes, if this is an answer." Perhaps you should read Exam Myth 2 before feeling encouraged to do likewise. 26) Exam Myth 2 When asked "What is courage?", another philosphy student wrote "This." He or she failed; even though it was, indeed, courageous to stake their degree on such an answer, it was not held to have answered the question. The answer was an example and not an explanation. 27) Exam Myth 3 An Oxford undergraduate, or so the story goes, discovered an ancient regulation that allowed a gentleman to send the invigilator to buy a quart (Two pints or 1.14 litres) of ale (beer) during the exam for the student's refreshment. He duly ordered it and produced his evidence and was bought the beer. The following day, the invigilator approached him with a hat, gown and sword, which another old regulation stipulated had to be worn at all times. So, the student had to to sit through the exam in a stuffy hall on a hot day in a heavy hat, etc. 28) Exam Myth 4 A student used amphetamines (a chemical stimulant) to stay awake to study all night in the days leading up to an exam, hoping to make up for lost time. Feeling shattered on the morning of the exam, they took a huge dose to make sure they were bright and alert and didn't fall asleep halfway through. Throughout the exam, they scribbled away frantically; writing page after page. Unfortunately, they'd taken so much of the stimulant that they failed to notice that they had written everything on the same side of paper, which meant that instead of handing in a dozen sheets of paper, they had one so covered in writing that it had turned black.